Judges 16

16 ¹ Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. ² When it was told to the people of Gaza, "Samson has come here," they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept still all night, saying, "At the light of morning we will kill him." ³ But Samson lay there until midnight. At midnight he rose, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all. He hoisted them onto his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴ After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The rulers of the Philistines came up to her and said, "Entice him and find out where his great strength lies, and how we can overpower him, so we may bind him and subdue him. Each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you could be bound and subdued."

⁷ Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man."

⁸ Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had men lying in wait in the inner room. She said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me how you can be bound."

¹¹ He said to her, "If they bind me tight with new ropes that have never been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man."

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" The men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head into the fabric on the loom and fasten it tight with the pin, then I will become weak like any other man."

¹⁴ So she fastened it with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he woke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, the loom, and the fabric.

Delilah Pries Out the Secret

¹⁵ Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? Three times now you have mocked me, and you have not told me where your great strength lies."

¹⁶ And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and kept urging him, he grew so weary of it that he wished he were dead. ¹⁷ So he told her all his heart and said to her, "A razor has never touched my head, for I have been a Nazirite of our Father from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man."

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the rulers of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart." So the rulers of the Philistines came up to her with the silver in their hands. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees, and she called a man to shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ Then she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" He woke from his sleep and thought, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that our Father had left him.

²¹ The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze shackles, and he was set to grinding at the mill in the prison. ²² But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Father Strengthens Samson Once More

²³ Now the rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand." ²⁴ And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given into our hand our enemy, the one who ravaged our land and multiplied our slain."

²⁵ When their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson, that he may entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed before them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶ Samson said to the young man who held his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so I can lean against them." ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching while Samson entertained them. ²⁸ Then Samson called to our Father and said, "O Sovereign Father, remember me, please. Strengthen me just this once, that with one blow I may bring justice on the Philistines for my two eyes." ²⁹ Then Samson grasped the two central pillars on which the house rested, bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he pushed with all his might, and the house fell on the rulers and on all the people in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹ Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel for twenty years.